It was 160 years ago on this date that a belated funeral service for Peter Lassen was held. It should be duly noted that Lassen met an untimely death on April 25, 1859 in the Black Rock Desert some 125 miles east of Susanville. In November his remains were brought back for burial in the Honey Lake Valley and placed near the majestic Ponderosa pine tree where he camped there in 1855.
Lassen’s funeral was chronicled in the Territorial Enterprise newspaper of Virginia City. The paper noted: “The remains of Peter Lassen, the old pioneer, were buried with Masonic honors, Sunday November 27, on his own ranch at Honey Lake. The attendance upon that occasion, was a very large one for that place.”